


Unknown Error

by girl_next_door_writes



Category: Star Trek
Genre: AU, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-04
Updated: 2018-12-04
Packaged: 2019-09-07 10:41:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16852525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girl_next_door_writes/pseuds/girl_next_door_writes
Summary: Sometimes tech support is just tech support, sometimes it’s the start of a beautiful friendship.





	Unknown Error

That stupid tone that would haunt your nightmares rang out from your speakers, alerting your work colleagues to your incompetence yet again as the error message flashed up on the screen. This was ridiculous. You were damn good at your job, so good Enterprise had headhunted you and offered you quite a substantial package to get you here. You were NOT going to be beaten by a bloody machine! Clicking the screen a few times you were rewarded with the same error tone and message. “Fucks sake.” You muttered to yourself as you angrily slammed your fingers over your keyboard, typing furiously. Suddenly a little box in the bottom left of your screen popped up with a message.

[EnterpriseTech1] Hi, looks like you could do with some assistance?

Looking at the message you frowned before glancing around to see if you could figure out who had sent it. Perhaps one of the people within hearing distance of your workstation had taken pity on you. You just hoped it wasn’t Justin, that sleaze had been taking every opportunity to hit on you and it made your skin crawl. He would stand just a little too close, lean over your desk in a way you knew he was trying to look down your top. A quick assessment of your surroundings appeared to prove that supposition incorrect and so you took a chance and replied.

[Desk262] That would be helpful. Thank you.

Hitting enter you were surprised when a response appeared almost instantly.

[EnterpriseTech1] Okay. What is it you’re trying to get her to do? 

[Desk262] Her?

[EnterpriseTech1] The machine. I know the system can be a wee bit temperamental at times but she is a work in progress so sometimes you’ve just gotta bear with her.

A small smile tugged at your lips at the thought of some tech support guy sat somewhere lovingly referring to this hellish system as ‘she’, as if it was his baby or something. 

[Desk262] I’m not sure temperamental is the term I’d use but I’m afraid to insult the system in text form in case it picks up on it and decides to hate me more than it does.

[EnterpriseTech1] Wise move. And I’m sure she doesn’t hate ya. Let’s take a look and see what we can do for you today.

The conversation between you was brief and within no time this tech genius had not only figured out the problem but also fixed it and gave you a few pointers that could be used as shortcuts. 

[EnterpriseTech1] I think that’s it, unless you have anything else I can help you with today?

The question hung on your screen, part of you was sad that this was the end of your interaction but there wasn’t anything technical you needed help with, and you really needed to get on with your work.

[Desk262] I’m good, thanks. If I get stuck can I message you or is this a general account and I could end up talking to any tech person?

[EnterpriseTech1] You can message me. It’ll always be me.

Scotty smiled softly at his screen. Usually, he wouldn’t get involved in the tech support part but he’d been flitting through the system when he spotted the repeated error message and now he was very glad he’d stepped in. A movement to his right had him glancing over at his chief assistant who was grinning at him knowingly. “Shut up. I was just helping a damsel in distress. I’m done with that now so let’s get back to debugging the latest updates and then we can streamline the prototype system.” He frowned, suddenly feeling irritated for some reason. That reason was because he knew the office staff didn’t fraternize with the tech monkeys. There was an order to things, a hierarchy, and no matter how flirty messages could get as the keyboard jockeys tried to get preferential treatment it was only designed to flatter so their system would be put back online sooner. He knew this and yet he’d told Desk 262 she could message him personally. Nobody messaged him personally, unless he counted Kirk, Bones or Spock. He would probably never hear from her again anyway. He was presuming it was a she, for all he knew he could have been chatting with a fat, balding 50-year-old dude. He doubted it though, there was something in the messages that drew him in and now he knew he had to walk away from it because there was no chance of anything happening there. None at all.

Logging on to your computer the following morning you found yourself humming, a good nights sleep and promise of a brand new day unencumbered with insurmountable technological issues stretched ahead of you. Just to make sure you had your back up should it all head south you pulled up the internal messenger and typed a quick message.

[Desk262] Good morning. No tech problems, just wanted to say hi.

Smiling to yourself, you pulled up todays schedule and quickly pulled together your ‘to do’ list and got started. 

Scotty frowned at his screen. He’d been in the middle of some rather technical programming when your message had appeared and he wasn’t sure how to proceed. Should he message back? It didn’t seem like it needed a response, there was nothing he could do for you. Clicking on the box he huffed out a breath before beginning to type.

[EnterpriseTech1] Good morning. Glad to hear she’s being nice to ya today. If that changes, you know where I am.

You exchanged the occasional message with your secret tech genie over the next few weeks. Not a single one of them was actually about anything you needed help with but it was nice to have someone to chat to without it affecting your work. Every time a new reply would flash up it made your face light up with a smile and it wasn’t long before messages became memes and reaction gifs. This guy was funny, even though you didn’t even know his name. 

[Desk262] Hey, Ent1?

[EnterpriseTech1] Ent1? That’s what you’re calling me?

[Desk262] Yeah. In my mind you’re like this huge tree with excellent wifi.

[EnterpriseTech1] I’m not sure if I should be flattered or worried by that. On one hand you think I’m a tree, on the other I have excellent wifi.

[Desk262] Well, you don’t tell me anything about yourself so I’ve gotta fill in the blanks.

[EnterpriseTech1] Montgomery Scott.

Scotty pressed enter and waited for the inevitable rejection. Once she realized who he was, she wouldn’t want anything to do with him.

You frowned at the name, it seemed vaguely familiar but no warning bells. It sounded like the sort of name a legendary tech genius would have.

[Desk262] Of course that would be your name. I wouldn’t expect anything less spectacular from such a tech wizard.

He raised his eyebrows and smiled to himself. She didn’t know who he was. Or maybe she did and just didn’t care.

[EnterpriseTech1] I thought you said I was a tree?

[Desk262] You can be a tree and a wizard. The two aren’t mutually exclusive, Monty.

Your response made him chuckle and he shook his head. These little exchanges brightened his day and he found himself itching to instigate a conversation, just to talk to you a little more. As he began to type a response, he received another message from you.

[Desk262] Please tell me you’re in the building right now and not in some center in the back of beyond because I have an emergency and I need you at my desk ASAP.

Scotty’s eyes widened and a panic hit his chest. You were in trouble and he needed to get to you.

[EnterpriseTech1] I’m here. What’s the problem? What do I need to bring with me?

Sitting at your desk, you bit your lower lip. As you’d been messaging with your new friend you had absentmindedly been twiddling one of the screws on your desk and now the whole thing was balanced precariously on your lap and you could feel your chair objecting to such strain. There was nothing you could do and the only person around was Justin and you would be damned if you were going to ask for his help. He’d probably crawl under your desk and take the opportunity to get some up-skirt shots. 

[Desk262] I may have inadvertently dismantled part of my desk and now be acting as its fourth leg.

The response wasn’t what you were expecting.

[EnterpriseTech1] HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA That is hilarious! You serious?

[Desk262] I need you to stop laughing and come help me.

There was no reply, and after a while you were preparing to bite the bullet and ask creepy Justin for help, when a concerned looking man burst through the doors, his eyes scanning the office until they met yours. The realization that this guy was EnterpriseTech1 washed over you, and it took you a moment to respond. He was older than you’d had in your head, but that wasn’t a bad thing. His eyes were wide and his jaw slack as he looked at you, an expression that caused you to smile. 

Scotty’s heart stopped when he saw you. Shit. You were gorgeous. This was so much worse than he had first thought. Now he knew for certain that he had no chance and it was too late to stop himself from falling for you.

“Who the fuck are you?” Justin glared at the newcomer, his eyes running up and down him in disgust. 

“Tech support.” Scotty said simply, not breaking eye contact with you.

“Nobody here needs you. If my stunningly beautiful colleague here needs any assistance at all, with anything, she knows she can ask me.” Justin smiled simpering at you in what you imagined he thought was an appealing way. 

This comment caught Scotty’s attention and he looked over at the suit with a frown. Of course, someone as amazing as you would have other guys you could call on, yet you’d messaged him. He was about to say something when your voice rang out across the room.

“Monty, sweetheart, I’m so glad you’re here. Justin, I would like you to meet my boyfriend, this is Montgomery Scott.” You smiled brightly, hoping that Monty would pick up what was going on here.

Scotty’s eyebrows shot up as his heart fluttered, a cascade of butterflies colliding around his stomach at the simple title ‘boyfriend’ coming from your lips in relation to himself. He couldn’t take his eyes off you and the smile on your face made his knees weak, so much so he rested his hand on the nearest desk to stop himself falling over.

“S-Scott? As in THE Montgomery Scott?” Justin’s face went pale and you frowned, unsure what just happened as the smarmy man apologized profusely to your friend, practically bowing as he made his way from the room.

“Okay, if I’d known your name would get that asshat off my back I’d have used it sooner. You think you could come help with my desk issue?” You looked at the man pleadingly and smiled as he made his way over nervously. “Thank you for coming to the rescue. You’re my knight in shining armor. There has to be some way I can repay you.” You felt your face heat up as a soft chuckle escaped him.

“You do realise that in a matter of hours this whole building is gonna be talking about the girl on the sixth floor who is dating one of Enterprises founding members.” He said with an air of amusement as he assessed the desk, bending down to pick up the fallen leg. 

“What?” It was your turn for your jaw to drop as your eyes went wide before you swallowed thickly. “You- you’re a- I thought you were tech support.” Your voice was edging dangerously close to a pitch only dogs would hear as you began to panic. One of the company’s founding members knew you goofed off to share memes and random chats and that you were incompetent enough to potentially demolish your own desk. “I’m getting fired aren’t I.” Your shoulders slumped and tears pricked your eyes.

“What? No! God, no! Why- why would you get fired? It’s not your fault I-“ he trailed off. It wasn’t your fault he’d fallen for you. He was an old fool and you were an angel. “You’re doing a great job. There’s no reason for you to get fired because you told some sleazy guy you’re my girlfriend.” He smiled softly, wishing his words were true, that you were his.

He made quick work of fixing your desk and as you watched him you wished he wasn’t your boss. You couldn’t very well ask your boss out, could you? Or maybe you could, it wasn’t like you hadn’t made a complete idiot of yourself already. “So, just to clarify, I’m not getting fired even though I broke a desk and almost destroyed all the tech on it, I spent company time misusing the messenger service to flirt with the witty tech guy and I asked one of the founding members of the company if he wanted to maybe go for something to eat after work?” You waited with baited breath as you studied his expression. His mind going over all your interactions before he figured you must have asked out Kirk at some point. 

“You’re not getting fired.” He tried to smile reassuringly but the idea of you and Kirk was now playing in his mind.

“And what about dinner? Will you be joining me, Montgomery Scott?” your voice was soft and a little unsure, and it wasn’t until his eyes met yours and you could see the pure elation in his expression, that you relaxed. 

“We do have to talk about the fantasy of me being a wizard tree versus the reality of just being me. We can do that over dinner.” He smiled and his boyish countenance melted your heart.

“That might take more than one dinner.” you teased, your grin matching his, and you silently thanked your temperamental computer for bringing this man into your life.


End file.
